Hitherto, it has been required, for example, of ophthamologists and optometrists to supply each room in which patients are to be examined with a rotatable ophthalmic table which carries thereon those instruments necessary for a proper examination of the patient, along with additional equipment to aid the doctor in his examination. Typically, an optometrist or ophthamologist will have two and sometimes three examining rooms so that, while one patient is being examined, at least one other patient may be prepared for his or her examination in another room. This, of course, imposes a significant financial burden on those desiring to maintain multi-examining space facilities, and involves the need to maintain and repair identical equipment which is prone to damage due to the intricacies and complexities thereof and which remains idle for much of the doctor's working period.
Rotatable ophthalmic tables are well-known in the art, examples of such tables being the Rodenstock Universal Revolving Table, manufactured by G. Rodenstock Instrument of Hamburg, West Germany, and the Octomat 300 revolving table, manufactured by Luneau and Coffingnon of Paris, France.
In the design of each of these known rotatable ophthalmic tables, a plurality of compartments is provided on the table which accommodates therein a plurality of instruments to be used during examination. Typically, four compartments may be provided, with one compartment accommodating a keratometer, another accommodating a slit lamp, another accommodating a phoropter, and another either accommodating another instrument or simply providing a trial lens case or simply a bureau compartment in which the doctor may store items of his choice or which may be used for writing. These prior art compartments, of course, may include different types of instruments, such as a vertex measuring projector, a refracting unit, a focimeter, a fundus camera, a phorovist, and the like, the choice of instruments usually being left to the doctor or user.